GUILTY PLEA HEARINGS

Modified courtroom procedures will provide for sentencing proceedings for individuals who previously entered guilty pleas or who have been convicted after a trial.

Beginning June 1, one courtroom will be available daily to conduct sentencing hearings. The courtroom will be staffed with one court clerk and one court reporter, along with the judge. The court clerk and the court reporter may participate inperson or remotely, at the discretion of the judge, according to the protocols.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled at intervals of one hour each, with no more than six scheduled during any given day.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill will preside over sentencing hearings the week of June 1 and Judge Thomas C. Branca will preside over the hearings the week of June 8. Judge William R. Carpenter will preside over the hearings during the week of June 15.

For defendants who are presently incarcerated, absent an objection from the lawyers, the defendant will appear via video-conferencing technology from the county jail. If a defendant objects to proceeding by video, the sentencing hearing will be postponed until a later date when the defendant can appear in person.

Under emergency judicial orders regarding COVID-19 safety precautions, defendants currently cannot be transported from the county jail to the courthouse.

Defendants who are not incarcerated shall appear in the courtroom for their sentencing hearing, along with a prosecutor and a defense lawyer. The offices of the district attorney and public defender have been directed to limit the number of lawyers from their offices from coming to the courthouse by having lawyers handle multiple sentencings on each day, even if not assigned to the particular cases.

The lawyers have also been directed to minimize live witnesses in the courtroom, by encouraging submission of written statements or prerecorded video statements of any witness not subject to cross examination.

Witnesses will appear by using the Zoom video platform. Unless specifically permitted by the presiding judge to be in the courtroom, all witnesses will appear by Zoom video format, according to the plan.

Protocols for plea day hearings will mirror those adopted for sentencing hearings.

If an agreement is reached on all matters related to a defendant the case will be scheduled for a plea to be entered on a specified date and time. Numerous negotiated guilty plea hearings, where the terms have already been worked out between prosecutors and defense lawyers, are expected to occur on one day each week.

Judges will also accept so-called open pleas, those in which no agreement on sentencing has been reached.

Defendants who are incarcerated will appear by video from the county jail. Defendants who are not incarcerated will appear in the courtroom, unless arrangements have been made in advance for the defendant and defense lawyer to appear by video using the Zoom platform.

Defendants are to complete all required colloquies in advance and all parties must be prepared to commence the hearing at the scheduled time, officials said.

Following the entry of a guilty plea, a defendant who will be awaiting sentencing will be instructed to contact the Adult Probation Office to arrange for an intake interview. Contact with probation officials will be accomplished with safety precautions, officials said.

The offices of district attorney and public defender each will provide a single lawyer to attend court hearings on each day to address these matters to avoid any possibility of multiple public defenders or multiple prosecutors being present in the same courtroom or in the courthouse on the same day.

OTHER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Officials said all participants, including witnesses, who appear inperson, must comply with court-approved safety protocols regarding courthouse operations. That includes the obligation of all people coming into the building to be subject to health screening and temperature checks.

All people in the courthouse must wear face masks and attendance in the courtrooms will be limited and social distancing will be strictly enforced, officials said.

Sentencing and guilty plea hearings will be scheduled in the courtrooms on the plaza level of the courthouse, immediately adjacent to the sole operating entrance to the courthouse on Main Street.

“This will minimize the distance and time that anyone must remain in the building,” officials said. “The proceedings will be scheduled to allow for sufficient time for parties to leave the building